Pietro Donato

Who was Pietro Donato?

Pietro Donato was a Renaissance humanist and the Bishop of Padua. He was a noted bibliophile, epigraphist, collector, and patron of art.

Born to a Venetian patrician family, Pietro received his education at the humanist boarding school of Gasparino Barzazzi. Promoted by Biagio Pelacani, he eventually received an arts degree from the University of Padua. He was a Thomist. As a humanist he kept a correspondence with Poggio Bracciolini.

After the death of Franciscus Zabarella, papatu dignissimus iudicatus, in late September 1417 at the Council of Constance, Pietro was one of those attending who, along with Barzazzi and Pierpaolo Vergerio, composed a eulogy for the cardinal. Pietro and Giovanni Berardi, Archbishop of Taranto, were co-presidents of the Council of Basel appointed by Pope Eugene IV. He and Berardi protested the Council after the eighteenth session re-affirmed the Haec sancta and the twenty-first session abolished the annates. On 11 August 1435 the Council officially reprimanded them, requesting that they lose their objections. Pietro later toured southern Germany in 1437. He attended the Council of Florence in 1438–39 and 1442.